401(k) Provider Human Interest Secures $40 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 11, 2020
  • Human Interest, an affordable full-service 401(k) provider for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), announced it raised $40 million

Human Interest — an affordable full-service 401(k) provider for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) — announced it raised $40 million in Series C funding. And the funding adds fuel to a period of major growth of the company through key additions to the team and a new headquarters in San Francisco’s Financial District.

Over the last 7 months, the company completed two rounds of fundraising — which added over 3 times the capital than was raised during its first four years.

Now the company is poised to increase access to retirement savings for workers employed by SMBs, most of whom do not have the opportunity to save through their employer.

In August 2019, Human Interest raised $15.4 million in Series B funding. And less than six months later, the company raised a $40 million Series C round led by Oberndorf Enterprises, LLC.

This funding round builds on the company’s key successes, including the building of a digital retirements platform using modern technology combined with human expertise. This platform allows customers to launch a retirement plan in mere minutes. Plus the company also hired talent who have had experiences at companies like Amazon, Google, LinkedIn, PayPal, Airbnb, Adobe, and Smartsheet.

Human Interest works with benefits brokers, CPAs, financial advisors, and leading payroll providers like Zenefits. And Human Interest has nearly tripled its average number of new customers per month, 85% of whom are investing in a 401(k) for the first time.

In order to broaden its offerings and impact, Human Interest added 403(b) plans at the end of 2019 to extend access to retirement savings for the employees of millions of nonprofit organizations across the country.

This round of funding will be used for extending Human Interest’s reach and enhance the customer experience through investments in product and technology, including integrations, more regional and national partnerships, and continuing to grow its passionate and expert team of professionals helping SMBs access a modern retirement benefit.

Human Interest is expected to hit “tens of millions of dollars in ARR by the end of the year.” And Human Interest will also likely reach cash flow breakeven in 2021 according to Crunchbase.

Key Quotes:

“We believe every employee has the right to save for retirement. In the past year, we’ve made large strides in helping the 90 million working Americans who won’t have enough savings for retirement. With this additional capital, we will continue to focus on making it easier and more affordable for employers to offer this important benefit to their employees.”

“We’re committed to helping close the retirement savings gap. Retirement remains one of the largest unsolved problems in this country. We’ve built a modern financial services platform, tailored to the needs of SMBs, and with more resources to grow our reach, Human Interest will bring fundamental wealth-building benefits to tens of millions of American workers who have been ignored by the old financial guard.” 

-Jeff Schneble, CEO of Human Interest

“We are thrilled to partner with the Human Interest team to help American workers retire with dignity by increasing access to easy and economical ways to save.

-Will Oberndorf, Managing Partner of Venture Capital at Oberndorf Enterprises